Vladimir Putin

President of Russia

Born: 7 October 1952

Birthplace: Leningrad, Russia (now St. Petersburg)

Best known as:

President of the Russian Federation, 2000-2008 and 2012-present

Vladimir Putin was elected president of the Russian Federation in 2012, beginning his third full term as president of Russia since taking over as the hand-picked successor of Boris Yeltsin in 1999. After earning a law degree in 1975, Vladimir Putin joined the KGB, the security force of the former Soviet Union. He spent years working primarily in East Germany, then left the service in 1991 and became active in the politics of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad). He was brought to Moscow by Yeltsin in 1996 and served as an administrator in the Kremlin and an official for the security organizations which replaced the KGB. In 1999, Putin became Yeltsin's fifth prime minister in 17 months, then became acting president when Yeltsin abruptly left office. He was officially elected to the office in 2000 and then re-elected in a landslide vote in March of 2004. As president he gained a reputation as a clever and ruthless political operator with a hunger for Russian power and not too much concern for the niceties of democracy or diplomacy. He stepped down in 2008 (as required by term limits) and was replaced by his own hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev then installed Putin as prime minister, a move which left Putin, as The New York Times put it, as "the country's dominant politician, with a firm grip on power." This seemed to be proved out in March of 2012, when Vladimir Putin was again elected president for a fresh six-year term.

Extra credit:

Vladimir Putin married the former Lyudmila Shkrebneva in 1983. They have two daughters: Maria (b. 1985) and Yekaterina (b. 1986, also known as Katerina or Katya)... While Putin was prime minister, Russian law was changed to lengthen the presidential term to six years. That's why Putin first served two four-year terms (from 2000-08) but was elected to a six-year term in 2012.